OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With Kendrick Carmouche heading to Gulfstream Park to ride Fire At Will in Saturday’s Fountain of Youth Stakes, Manny Franco will ride Mr. Buff in the $125,000 Stymie Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer John Kimmel said Monday.

Carmouche had ridden Mr. Buff in his last two starts – subbing for regular rider Junior Alvarado who is wintering in Florida – including a seven-length victory in the Jazil Stakes on Jan. 23.

Franco has ridden Mr. Buff just once, that being a fourth-place finish in an allowance race at Belmont in September 2018.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tatweej, who earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure when winning a third-level allowance race on Feb. 4 at Aqueduct, is being pointed to the Godolphin Mile on March 27 at Meydan, trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Pletcher said Tatweej returned to South Florida following his allowance victory and will leave for Dubai on March 16.

“He seems to be doing fine, shipped back in good shape. It looks like the plane is on the 16th to Dubai, so we’ll work his schedule around that,” Pletcher said.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Withers Stakes winner Risk Taking over the weekend began working toward a start in the Wood Memorial on April 3 at Aqueduct, his Chad Brown-trained stablemate Highly Motivated continued his preparation for a start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham here on March 6.

Highly Motivated, wintering at the Payson Park training center in Florida, worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 in company with Excellent Timing on Saturday. Excellent Timing, transferred to Brown following a private sale in December, is being pointed to the Damon Runyon Stakes on March 14 at Aqueduct.

It’s been a very productive winter so far for Corey Lanerie, whose 25 wins through last weekend include a 29-1 upset aboard Queen Nekia in the Grade 3 Royal Delta on Saturday.

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Kendrick Carmouche, the leading jockey at the Aqueduct meet, will be here Saturday to ride Fire At Will in the Fountain of Youth and at least two other mounts.

Trainer Mike Maker initially arranged for Luis Saez to ride Fire At Will, but Carmouche got the mount after Saez committed to Essential Quality in the Southwest at Oaklawn, which will be run Saturday following several weather-related cancellations from its original Feb. 15 date.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Prevalence, the exciting Godolphin homebred who made a flashy career debut on the Jan. 23 Pegasus World Cup undercard, missed a scheduled workout at the Palm Meadows training center after spiking a temperature recently and will not be in action at Gulfstream Park this week as was hoped.

Trainer Brendan Walsh had intended to have Prevalence make his second start in a weekday allowance or the Fountain of Youth on Saturday, but Walsh and Godolphin’s top American representative, Jimmy Bell, now must come up with other plans for the Medaglia d’Oro colt.

With schedules disrupted multiple times by the pandemic, California tracks raced 19 percent fewer days in 2020 compared to 2019, but sustained only an 8 percent loss in all-sources handle for the year, according to figures released earlier this month by the California Horse Racing Board.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Apprentice jockeys Alexis Centeno, Emily Ellingwood, and Jessica Pyfer each rode winners on Sunday’s nine-race program at Santa Anita.

Centeno, who claims seven pounds, rode Cover Version ($54) to an upset in the third race, for $32,000 claimers at a mile on turf. Centeno, 27, has ridden five winners at the meeting, which began Dec. 26. At the Los Alamitos December meeting, Centeno finished eighth with five wins.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has been suspended two days next Friday and Saturday after he was judged by Saudi Arabian stewards to have caused interference shortly after the start of the $20 million Saudi Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

Smith, 55, rode Charlatan to a second-place finish, but was ruled to have allowed his mount to drift to the left after the start, interfering with Sleepy Eyes Todd, who finished fifth. The stewards' ruling did not change the order of finish.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita executives have held preliminary discussions with Los Angeles County officials about reopening the track to customers this spring.

Nate Newby, Santa Anita’s senior vice president and general manager, said over the weekend that no plans have been finalized and that the presence of paying customers is contingent on a continued decline in the level of COVID-19 positives in Southern California.